Twlight: Love it... or Hate it?

I am actually liking Jacob in this book....

This story did not turn out how I thought it would. I'm not finished yet, but it's been a wild ride so far. I'm not 100% sure I really like this one, compared to the other three. I'm not sure.
 
^ Hmmm. I'm on page 261, and so far, it's my favorite. I like how alliances are being split and rearranged and whatnot -- and not necessarily along the easiest or most predictable lines. I also really like the cover art. It's really sort of fabulous for this story and for the subject matter.


Oh, and for once, I am not so much liking Edward, but I do feel sympathy for the guy. He is definitely a more sympathetic character in this one. It even sort of makes his earlier excesses seem... I don't know... somehow less icky given the fact that his worst nightmares for Bella are pretty much becoming true -- and it's his fault, no less. For the first time, I really genuinely feel for the guy.
 
i ahve never read any of the twighlight books but my friends ahve read them and say that they are brilliant
 
Well, I wouldn't go so far as to say "brilliant." I think Twilight is bad, New Moon is decent leaning toward good, Eclipse is decent, and Breaking Dawn is good.

To be fair, I was a Creative Writing major, so my standards are ridiculously high. Shakespeare was brilliant. Poe. Austen. Alcott. Whedon. Meyer hasn't made my list yet. 🙂
 
^ I agree with what you've said about Stephenie's writing...she's definitely not the best writer in the world, but I have to say, she is a good storyteller. That's why her books are so damn addicting.

Anyway, I've heard so many people talking about how much they hated Breaking Dawn, but I'm on page 455, and I think it's my favorite book in the series. Here are my thoughts so far (and the tags are there for a reason, so be wary if you haven't finished it yet...)

The wedding scene was so cute! Alice is the best, and it was great seeing her freaking out about everything.

I thought that pregnant Bella was a nice twist! Stupidly enough, I read spoilers first, so I saw it coming, but it was still kind of surprising. And, even though I thought I'd hate reading in Jacob's perspective, I rather liked it. I especially loved his interaction with Quil...love that guy!

So far, I'm liking vampire Bella WAAAAY more than human Bella. It was cool reading in a vamp's perspective instead of a boring human's, and her excitement about being stronger and faster than Edward made me smile. I'm guessing her special power is extreme self control, but maybe she'll develop some new ability because that's kind of boring. *le shrug* And I'm very curious to find out what the Volturi think about all these shenanigans.

My only problem with the book so far is the baby herself. I kind of wish Stephenie had watched Angel to see that the whole half human, half vampire baby plotline, though interesting at first, eventually leads to annoyingness. Seriously, RENESMEE?! What the hell was she smoking when she thought of that name?! I like Jake's nickname (Nessie) better. And the whole scene with Vampire Bella meeting her for the first time, then finding out Jake imprinted on her reads like bad fan fiction. I hope that's the low point of the book, because everything before that scene was great and I haven't read past it.

Also, I don't understand why everyone is freaking out about Jacob imprinting on Renesmee (the name still pisses me off! ARGH!). When Quil imprinted on a baby, nobody made a big deal. It's what werewolves in the Twilight universe do! You didn't see uproar across the country when Spike tasted his own nose blood on Buffy. And even worse, some people are talking about how they thought it was weird when Bella drank blood. Again, THAT'S WHAT VAMPIRES DO, YOU WANTED BELLA TO BE A VAMPIRE, NOW GET OVER IT. Haters to the left, please!

That said, I'm gonna go keep reading because the book is staring at me and begging me to pick it up again.
 
palabravampiress
palabravampiress
So far, I am pretty much in agreement.
X
xaphania
I agree with pretty much everything you said...I don't really get the hate that this book is getting in the fandom.
S
Spirit_Of_Fred
points for great use of spoiler tags. i hate spoilers and so many times people dont even bother :).
Crazy Flakes!! that blacked out spoiler you've posted above is majorly tempting! We don't get the book here in Australia till Monday (tomorrow). I'm trying to control my temptation to look.....
 
I just finished it up, and I have a lot of thoughts. Again, spoiler tags are there for a reason. So sorry, Tranquility!

Okay, so Bella meeting Nessie for the first time and finding out Jacob imprinted on her was definitely the turning point of the book. Before that, the book was very good; easily the best of the series; and after, large parts of it read like, as I previously mentioned, bad fan fiction. The whole thing with Nessie the rapidly-maturing super baby was just weird, to be honest. As for her special power, well, Stephenie just took that from The Giver (do you think that was the second book she was inspired by for this one? She said that she was influenced by A Midsummer Night's Dream and another one that she wouldn't reveal, so I figured it MUST be The Giver.)

After a little while, I found myself growing bored with Bella's interaction with the other Cullens. I guess that's just because everything revolved around Nessie and the other clans, and they were the two low points of the book. Speaking of which, I did NOT like the other vampires that visited; the only ones I didn't mind were Tanya and Kate, while the rest were just taking up space and writing. They were kind of like the Potentials on Buffy. Alice and Jasper's absence didn't help much, either; they're my favorite characters.

I did like Bella's interaction with the other characters, though...her scenes with Charlie and the other humans were more enjoyable because they actually talked about things besides Nessie and the other vampires' special powers. And I wish we'd seen Jasper and Alice's meetings with J. Jenks...I wanna know what happened there.

The ending left SO much to be desired. I wish I could complain and say that Stephenie was too risky; she wasn't being risky enough! She was clearly just giving the fans what they wanted (a happy ending for Edward and Bella, Jacob imprinting on someone else, yadda yadda yadda.) And could the "battle" with the Volturi have been more anticlimactic? It went like this:

Jane: GASP! Why aren't our powers working on them?
Aro: It must be Bella, the super perfect vampire!
Bella: Mwahahahaha! You can never break my shield!
All non-Volturi vampires: BELLA, YOU'RE THE BEST! YOU'RE PERFECT AND SPARKLY AND WE ALL LOVE YOU!
Edward: Let's have lots of off-screen sex!

...if you didn't notice, yes, I definitely think Bella needs more flaws. I was hoping she'd become more flawed when she became a vampire, what with the bloodlust, but I was wrong. I still think that Bella was much more likable as a vampire than as a human, but that doesn't change the fact that she's a static, flawless character who needs to be toned down a few notches. I wish Stephenie had her kill someone just so she could have SOMETHING wrong with her.

Okay, back to my annoyance with the ending. What was the deal with that? I think it would've been much better if the Volturi had actually taken Nessie. Okay, fine, it would depress the teenie-bopper fans that just want to have Bella and Edward have a perfect happy ending, but it would have been a good closing statement and it definitely would have allowed for a lot of much-needed character development for Bella and Edward. Or maybe I've been watching too many Joss Whedon shows.

Overall? I absolutely loved the first 450 pages or so, but after that, I was completely disappointed. Meh, oh well. At least they got a happy ending, right?
 
I'm still in the air. I'll have to read it again to make a decision on if I like it. I'm on the borderline. There's so much crap in it that makes me want to put it on the bookshelf and never read it again. But then, there's a lot in it that felt right and worked really well with the story. I just don't know.

I was disappointed with one aspect though.
The first three books were about the relationship between Bella and Edward, and how they treat each other and want to be together. But then this tale comes along and I felt like their relationship was not only left on the back burner, but the flame was turned off and it had started to get one of those gross skins on top of it that you get with soup. It was a fail there. All we got was the wedding, and that wasn't even really all that good. I understand and respect the fact that it was a teen book and there weren't going to be explicit descriptions of their first night together, but we didn't even get a fuzzy account. Just wham bam, oh yeah they must've had sex because Belle is somehow pregnant (and is planning on naming her child some ridiculous name that I stumbled across every single time I saw it in the print, because it was terrible.) But we didn't get to experience that romance of being on your honeymoon, which is something that both of the characters had been waiting for from the beginning of their relationship. Okay, end!
 
Just finished Breaking Dawn.

like most of the above posters - was quite disappointed. I agree with everything you said ^^ Crazy Flakes (except i didn't enjoy the first half of the book). I Like more risk taking in my fiction. The characters got boring because nothing happened! The ending sucked!! And I agree with you SpikedBuffy (^) about that name. I think I pronounced it a different way every time I read it and never failed to think it was utterly ridiculous - even the nickname was stupid.
 
I agree with a lot of what has been written above. The first 450 pages or so were probably the best of the entire series, minus a little bit of boring/over-the-top romantic stuff in the very beginning.

To be honest, I'm not all about the romance. I tend to prefer my vampires with some teeth. I like it when they fight. I like it when they're evil (or at least formerly evil). That being the case, I thought the playing down of the honeymoon romance was cool. I didn't need a bunch more sugary sweetness. I thought the sexual subject matter was handled well in general. I don't mind a good fade-to-black scene, either, and I liked reading that waaay more than the graphic details. Of course... I do think the ripping apart the bedframe thing was a little silly. Also, not sure if I would have chosen THE OCEAN for my first time, even though they did apparently make it inside to the bedroom at some point. Not sure what Meyer was thinking, there. Maybe it's that she didn't plan to describe it? Because I'm thinking sand and salt water in all the wrong places, here. Plus, I'd be scared of all the things that live in the ocean. Like stinging jellyfish. It SOUNDS plenty romantic until you think about it, then it sounds all uncomfortable and not-too-pleasant. Anyway, after all of that, I was glad Bella got pregnant so that there was a point to the silly sexual shenanigans.

As I mentioned earlier, I loved how the baby divided people and brought them together in interesting ways. I love how Edward's guilt made him a more sympathetic character. The pregnancy was a neat idea. Vampire Bella was fun. The Volturi being mad about it was a great idea. Up to this point, Meyer's descriptions were all very visceral, which I loved. But Nessie was annoyingly perfect, then Edward sort of became a back burner character as soon as I finally became interested in him, and the Jacob/Bella thing was resolved WAY too easily. Bella lacked the bloodlust, which was annoying because, as others have said, she needed some flaws. Finally, they got everyone together for this great big fight, and then they just talked for freakin' ever. Grr. I waited the whole book for a fight! In general, my problem with Breaking Dawn is the same problem I've had with the rest of the series: Meyer always backs off from the risk. She builds us up for it, but then things are resolved too neatly. I think we need to see some animosity or some evil with consequences. I think we need to see some conflict that comes from within, not always externally from the "bad" vampires. And for goodness' sake, could someone PLEASE drink some human blood?

So, basically, my opinion is in line with the rest: I liked the first 450 pages or so, but hated the end.
 
I have heard so much about these books - some of it good, some bad, & some super-praising, while others were knocking it hard.

I haven't read any of SM's work. I barely started reading one of Anne Rice's novels, when a friend said "Oh NO NO NO! - you have to read *blahblahblah* first, & then *blahblah* & THEN read the book you have." Phhhhhht. So I didn't read any of them. (yet... but I do have 4 Anne Rice novels, ready to be read when I feel like it.)

The bottom line for me is that if it doesn't compare to WhedonVerse, to the Buffy/Angel characters, etc. then I'm pretty much gonna be disappointed. HOWEVER... I did look at that Twilight trailer on youtube, & it looks to be a pretty good movie. Possibly since I haven't READ the book, I might see the movie. But then again, Walmart has the book on sale for $8.88 & I recently got "birthday money" to spend. :biggrin:

I did enjoy Interview with a Vampire movie, but then again, haven't read the book.

I did enjoy the Blade Trilogy, and I loved Bram Stoker's Dracula (w/Gary Oldman). And the campy Lost Boys is one of my favorite 80's movies.

Yet, still, I'm just not totally sold on this whole Twilight series thing. Could be because it's aimed at teenage girls. But WTF, so was Buffy. 😉
 
I'm a librarian in a girls school and these books do a huge turn over; no sooner has one been returned and it is borrowed again. Needless to say we have multiple copies of each. I have taken to slipping a little piece of paper in the back saying:

If you enjoyed this book (or even if you didn't) you should check out the television series 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer'. it is sooooo much better!

I keep a little stash of them printed up so they are always on hand and ready to slip in when one of the books comes into the returns box. Just doing my bit to convert the lost to the B'verse 🙂
 
November
November
Haha brilliant! Spread the love :p
S
Spirit_Of_Fred
ha! thats awesome! :)
Not to seem mean here, but I, personally am getting really tired of people comparing these books to the buffyverse. It's like comparing apples and oranges. They are not the same! I mean, there are always elements in stories that are similiar. If you're going to write a book about vampires, you have to borrow from the mythology. If you're going to write a book about mermaids, you're going to have to borrow from the mythology, but you certainly wouldn't be thinking... "Hmm, how can I make people compare my story to "The Little Mermaid?"

Seriously. It is possible to like the buffyverse, which is surely iconic, but in the past, and to like the Twilight series which may be hack and fluff, but right now in the present. And heck, you can even like the future vampire stories that may be exceptional or crappy, but it's okay! 🙂
 
I am heartily resisting reading these books (it's actually not as hard as resisting Harry Potter was, amazingly enough--none of my friends are reading these, that I know of), mostly because I avoid overly-popular gravy trains that are mostly populated by screaming preteen girls.
 
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